-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- England clinched rugby 's Six Nations title for the first time since 2003 on Saturday despite crashing to a 24-8 defeat to Ireland in the final round in Dublin .

Martin Johnson 's team could have been denied the crown along with the Grand Slam achievement of winning all five games , but closest rivals Wales lost 28-9 to France in the tournament 's concluding match .

Johnson was captain of the England team that won the European competition for the 25th time eight years ago and then went on to lift the World Cup in Australia , and he will be hoping history repeats ahead of this year 's premier event in New Zealand .

`` This is a scar and we 'll have to wear that scar . I told the players we 'll take this on the chin . We were beaten by a good team , an experienced team , '' the coach said in quotes reported by the UK Press Association .

`` The boys are very disappointed because they wanted to win a Test match , and we know what was at the end of it . We had a horrible first half . We were always chasing the game .

`` It summed up our day up when two of our players ended up passing straight back to them . When you 're in a fight you want to feel like you 've landed a few blows , but we did n't . They kept on taking shots at us . ''

Recalled fly-half Jonathan Sexton kicked 14 points in a man-of-the-match performance , with his four penalties and a try from winger Tommy Bowe giving Ireland a 17-3 halftime lead .

Seven minutes after the restart , captain Brian O'Driscoll became the record tryscorer in Six Nations history with his 25th crossing -- and Sexton converted to make it 24-3 .

England 's only try was a runaway intercept effort from hooker Steve Thompson , which fellow replacement Jonny Wilkinson could not convert .

Wales went into the match in Paris needing to win by 27 points to finish ahead of England on countback , but the team 's preparation was marred by the absence of assistant coach Shaun Edwards due to a reported incident with a fellow member of the backroom staff last weekend .

Coach Warren Gatland refused to comment on the incident in his pre-game interview , saying that it was `` an internal matter . ''

Defending champions France finished second following two tries to forward Lionel Nallet and another to winger Vincent Clerc , while Morgan Parra kicked 13 points .

Wales ' only reply was three penalties to flyhalf James Hook , who was sinbinned for a dangerous tackle , as Gatland 's team finished fourth behind Ireland after three teams ended with six points each .

In the day 's opening game , Scotland avoided the wooden spoon by beating Italy 21-8 in Edinburgh to condemn the visitors to bottom place .

The tournament has been known as the Six Nations since the addition of Italy in 2000 , and started out in 1883 with four teams . France joined the competition for the first time in 1910 , rejoining 37 years later .

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England crowned Six Nations champions despite closing defeat by Ireland

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Dublin defeat ends England 's hopes of achieving a Grand Slam of five victories

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Defending champions France finish second after beating Wales 28-9 in Paris

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Wales needed to win by 27 points to prevent England from taking the title